Cleaning Up My Medical Chart

(Todd Batitis) #1

So this past week I had a couple doctors appointments. I have been getting blood work done every 3 months at this point. I am 6’ tall and as of March I was 356 pounds. At my appointment I was 220 pounds. Bloodwork other than cholesterol looking great but this was one of the best parts of our conversations as my primary doctor decided to do some chart cleaning…

He was amazed again as he has been for a while but as we discussed my chart he started clearing some stuff off too…

“Well, we can take Insulin Resistance off since you are no longer insulin resistant.”
“We can take off Metabolic Syndrome since you don’t meet the criteria…”
“We can get rid of Pre-diabetes as you are obviously not in that category anymore.”
"We can take off “Mild Hypertension”.
“And, obviously we can take you off of Class 3 Obese.” :slight_smile:

I will be looking to get a couple appointments with Dr. Ted Naimen on the cholesterol which my PCP supports but other than that, the only thing my doctor wanted to know was “So what can I do to support this continuing on?” :slight_smile:

(Carl Keller) #2

Congrats Todd. This is amazingly good news. :smiley:

Three words: Buy Me Bacon!

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #3

Wow, I bet you made his day! It’s not often docs get to delete diagnoses from charts! Congratulations

(Todd Batitis) #4

Yeah, we discussed how frustrating it must be as doctors who pound advice they know someone isn’t going to take. My feeling is I would get to the point of “why bother”. He said, “No. I just have to keep pushing and pushing and hope that at some point the light bulb will turn on. You just turned on a lot more than I even knew about.” :slight_smile:

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #5

I also find it pretty remarkable that all of those things come back to diet. Your story really illustrates how important food is and how our bodies react to it!

(Carl Keller) #6

Does your doctor know keto did this to you?

(Todd Batitis) #7

Yeah. And I have been more active than most. I actively listen to podcasts on health and nutrition like Found My Fitness with Dr. Rhonda Patrick as well as all the 2KD group of podcasts. Jimmy Moore, you know the drill. I also actively supplement and test to get things like my omega ratios in check and refuse to take statins in the past and things like that. So many things are a result of what our diet is and the sad part is how many people I know, many close to me, who would rather keep doing the SAD and overeating rather than getting their act together and improving their life. You know, actually clearing up their psoriasis or at least improving it by going keto rather than being 400 pounds, eating nothing but crap and in large amounts and posting pics of their hands on FB. The type that hear they are now officially diabetic… and you know they will just keep doing what they did to get there.

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #8

The food we eat is like the place we grew up in or the religion we practice. It’s a hard change for many to make, that’s for sure!

(Todd Batitis) #9

Oh yeah. He knows what my success is due too. I give him a list of blood tests every 3 months to put in and have him put in any he might want to look at but that rarely happens because I have them covered.

I am very detailed about what my eating is and that I am looking to start doing extended fasts of 3-7 days during the next year.

He is not afraid to let me know what he doesn’t know and has said prior to an appointment a couple times ago, “I have to admit, you are a bit out of my wheelhouse right now but I am more than happy to assist you however I can so we can both learn.”

I gave him kudos for this attitude during my most recent appointment as my cardiologist is really happy I have him as a PCP because my PCP is the type that wants to learn, goes to symposiums and such to learn more. In fact, when I was leaving last week I told him that I would let him know when I go see Dr. Naimen and have him get his findings back to him. His response was, “Definitely do that. And if you need anything or have any more information let me know. I am open to it. Wide Open.”

After hearing the stories of doctors who refuse to treat people who don’t adhere to what THEY think is correct… he is a breath of fresh air. :slight_smile:

(Todd Batitis) #10

LOL, yep. And having moved from a right wing christian area of the midwest to the liberal left coast of the US. Like with my change to being a liberal/progressive atheist, I am not going back to the way I ate before. :slight_smile:

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #11

Liberal/progressive KETO atheist.

(Carl Keller) #12

That’s awesome. It’s good to know there are doctors who are open to LCHF. And it’s hard for him to deny that it works when he sees the results with his own eyes, even if it goes against most of what he learned in medical school.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #13

Wow! Just—wow!

(Todd Batitis) #14

When I got back on the weight loss wagon again in March it was as LCHP, 6 small meals a day, that whole drill as it is what the hospital’s bariatric center had advised and I had previously had some success with a few years prior. My PCP asked me at that time if I had ever looked at Dr. Sarah Hallberg’s videos, which I had not. I did watch part of one when doing the treadmill a few weeks later but nothing more when I saw that she was talking about LCHF, not LCHP so I didn’t think it was relevant. :slight_smile: Obviously, having switched to LCHF now… I am familiar with her work. :slight_smile:

And you are right about medical school. As my wife’s PCP put it, “We get so little nutritional training in school that if you are sick on that day or even if your line at Starbucks was too long you may completely miss it.”

(Todd Batitis) #15

I know, right? There is a part of me that says I would be better with simply switching to someone like Dr. Naimen because of his knowledge but there is also the part of me that says, “You have an opportunity to help another doctor who doesn’t understand it all as well GET IT and use that new knowledge to help other patients get a better direction.” :slight_smile:

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #16

Dr. Berry would be very proud of you! This is exactly the sort of thing he hopes for.

(Laurie) #17

I found the original post and this thread quite moving. Thank you for posting.

#18

Uncalievably good news, Todd! :+1:

If you like podcasts, I have to recommend The Diet Doctor Podcast, and The Keto Answers Podcast, if you’re not already listening to them.

They are very good, and worth listening to, IMO.

This is a great post, Todd!
Thanks for sharing it with us. :smiley:

(Todd Batitis) #19

Thanks for the headsup. I am often searching for new podcasts in the health/keto/fasting area as well as looking at audiobooks to listen to from our local library (which being in the Seattle, WA, USA aea is a good sized selection). I have run into The Diet Doctor web pages for different things but never really noticed there was a podcast nor had I hit the Keto Answers so thanks again. It looks like both have episodes with decent length. One thing that drives me nuts are when podcasts are as short as 10 minutes (Dr. Berg does this a lot). I mean, they don’t have to be long form, 3 hour ones like Joe Rogan or David Smalley but a minimum of an hour is good. :slight_smile:

Thanks again!

#20

This is just beautiful. Congratulations, Todd!